This isn’t the Green Bay Packers’ defense of a year ago, when it ranked last in the NFL in yards allowed and couldn’t put much pressure on quarterbacks.

And to prove it once and perhaps for all, defensive coordinator Dom Capers and his players put together their finest performance of the season. Their bid for a shutout was ruined by a garbage-time touchdown with 1:39 remaining in Sunday’s 55-7 destruction of the punchless Tennessee Titans at Lambeau Field. But if that bothered those on the defensive side of the home locker room, it barely registered.

Not after a seven-sack, two-interception performance that rendered the Titans almost completely ineffective.

More than anything, Capers’ variety of blitzes set the tone for a plan that limited the Titans to just 180 total net yards while playing with an offensive line that has lost five starters at four positions this season.

“I thought Dom Capers had an excellent plan,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. “But I thought there was just so much production throughout our defense.”

What made this game different was the fact that Capers unveiled some new looks to his blitz package. All season long, one of the staples of his pressure was the cross blitz by inside linebackers A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones. He has relied heavily on that since defensive back Charles Woodson has been out because of the broke collarbone he sustained on Oct. 21.

On Sunday, Capers threw cornerback Casey Hayward into the mix. Hayward, who has taken over for Woodson as the slot cornerback in the nickel and dime packages, didn’t register any sacks but was a significant reason Hawk (who matched his career high with two sacks) and Jones (one sack) were so effective attacking Titans quarterback Jake Locker.

Hayward, who has put himself into the mix for the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year award in large part because of his team-high six interceptions, was credited with one quarterback hit and one tackle for a loss. Playing at the line of scrimmage more than usual, he was fourth on the team with five total tackles. He tried arguing that he sacked Locker on a scramble, but the officials marked the ball past the line of scrimmage. Though he didn’t add to his interception total, he showed off another facet of his game. He estimated that he blitzed more in this game than he had in all the previous games combined.

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“Playing in the nickel, you’ve got to be able to cover and blitz,” Hayward said. “I think I showed this week that I can blitz as well.”

Every time Hayward blitzed, it seemed either Hawk or Jones — and sometimes both — followed.

“We ran not always the same blitz but similar blitzes from the strong side with everyone kind of slanting,” Hawk said. “But it’s everyone just doing their job and if you can find a way to beat the guy inside, everyone just slides down. Casey was right there just touching (Locker’s) shoulder on five or six sacks, it felt like. He kept trying to get half credit for everything. I told him he could have a half with me; I’m not going to fight him for it. But yeah, when you can get pressure like that, it’s big.”

At halftime, when the Packers led 20-0, Locker had a passer rating of 0.0 after completing just 3-of-12 passes for 35 yards and throwing his interceptions on consecutive first-quarter series. Locker finished with a 41.0 rating and completed 13-of-30 passes for 140 yards. Combined with last week’s win at Chicago, the Packers have totaled 11 sacks and have given up a total of just 370 yards in their last two games.

In addition to Hawk and Jones, who combined for three sacks, Clay Matthews, Mike Neal, Sam Shields and Dezman Moses each recorded one.

“That’s our defense, blitzing and disguising,” Packers cornerback Tramon Williams said. “That’s what the scheme is about. But guys were just beating their men, I guess you could say. The scheme was working and guys individually were working.”